Triage Using Telemedicine: Advancements in Prehospital Stroke Care Prasanthi Govindarajan MD, MAS Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine Stanford University Medical Center
Disclosures American Heart/Stroke Association Grant-In-Aid Award, Western Affiliate Program. No other conflicts of interest
Talking points Role of prehospital providers in acute stroke itreat 1 study Follow up to itreat 1 study Phase 2
EMS: Second Link In the Stroke Chain of Survival EMS play a crucial role in acute stroke management Evaluation as the first healthcare provider Stabilization Rapid neurological assessment and exclusion of stroke mimics Triage to centers of excellence (primary stroke centers and in the future maybe to comprehensive centers/neurovascular capability)
Gaps in acute stroke care Data show that recognition of stroke in the prehospital setting varies by region (Sensitivity 40%) Prehospital notification or incoming stroke alert is also highly variable (19-94%) GWTG Qualitative study using focus group methodology conducted within California highlighted the need for prehospital provider training and integration of EMS and hospital stroke teams. Our approach is to use telemedicine as a way of linking prehospital providers with vascular neurologists to increase appropriateness of triage in the field.
Telemedicine Could lead to better recognition of stroke Provide earlier resource mobilization through prenotification Increase appropriate triage for timelier stroke treatment
itreat study Improving Treatment with Rapid Evaluation of Acute stroke via mobile Telemedicine (itreat) Pilot study to demonstrate the technical feasibility and reliability of bi-directional communication using a low cost, off the shelf telemedicine unit supported by 4G LTE (fourth generation long term evolution commercial broadband)
Methods Hypotheses: (Validity) Mobile Telestroke assessments are clinically reliable between bedside and remote assessment. (Reliability) 80% of itreat test runs could be completed without prohibitive technical interruption. Study sites: Two geographical regions: Virginia and San Francisco (Rural and Urban EMS systems) Central Virginia: Thomas Jefferson EMS Council Inc., serves 6 rural counties and has 35 ambulance agencies. Designated as medically underserved areas. City of Berkeley Fire department: Urbanized with a call volume of 8000/ year and advanced life support responders.
Mobile system Apple ipad with retina display 4G LTE modem Cradle mount Verizon SIM Card CISCO Jabber Telehealth program approved $1650/ device for hardware.
itreat Methods Virginia: Simulation study Medical students were trained in mock stroke scenarios Bedside assessments and remote assessments of stroke scenarios were done by blinded examiners Mean telemedicine connectivity time was 18 minutes 93% achieved a pre-specified minimum of 9 minutes NIHSS comparison between bedside and remote was high (96%- ICC) University of California, San Francisco: Standardized patients were trained in stroke and mimic scenarios and portrayed scenarios in a moving ambulance. Remote and bedside vascular neurologists scored the NIHSS concurrently We used Bland-Altman plot to calculate the difference between bedside and remote assessments
Results
Mobile Telemedicine Initiative Looks to Diagnose Stroke Patients Before Reaching Emergency Department See link for video on University of Virginia Health System telemedicine program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z55porvk8da&list=wl
Phase 2 Woodside Fire Department Woodside Fire Department is our community partner for the second phase of the telemedicine study The second phase of telemedicine study will be actively enrolling patients with stroke symptoms starting November 1, 2016 All of the Woodside paramedics are trained to use a new prehospital stroke scale (modified NIHSS) We will use the itreat device (with hobnob) to support the video streaming from the ambulance Paramedics will use a study checklist (stroke specific history, IV t-pa exclusions, mnihss score, signs of large vessel occlusion) and stream this to the vascular neurologist through the telemedicine platform.
Outcomes Audio- video quality of the telecommunication Agreement between paramedic and vascular neurologist stroke scale scores Prehospital time intervals (time to connect, time on scene with telemedicine)
Thank you Woodside Fire Department ( Jonathan Francisco, Firefighter/Paramedic, Woodside Fire Protection District) Woodside Fire Department Paramedics and leadership William Mulkerin, MD - Emergency Medicine Physician/ EMS Division Stanford Health Care Ilana Spokoyny, MD Vascular Neurology, Stanford Health Care San Mateo County EMS